Updated 22 August 2026
NHS Pension Calculator
Work out what your NHS pension is worth. Calculate your annual income on retirement – with or without the tax-free lump sum. See what your pension costs you each month and what it costs to retire early. Every figure is worked out from published pension scheme data and reflects your unique circumstances.
The pension you have built up, year by year, in today’s money. From 68 it is in payment for life.
The pension you have built up, year by year, in today’s money. From 68 it is in payment for life.
at retirement
The earliest this goes is the last scheme year end that has passed, so it answers what stopping from here on would do. While you're paying in, what you've built up grows by inflation plus 1.5% a year. Once you stop, it stops growing, but it never shrinks: you keep the inflation part and lose the 1.5%.
Breakdown
normal pension age
Drawing before your normal pension age cuts the yearly amount for life; drawing after increases it. Both use factors published by the Government Actuary; the exact one for your age is in the breakdown below.
55 is the earliest the rules let most people draw a pension at all, rising to 57 in April 2028. Earlier than that needs ill health or redundancy terms, which work differently and aren't modelled here.
The maximum tax-free lump sum you can take is limited by two rules imposed by HMRC: (1) 25% of the capital value of your benefits, or (2) the Lump Sum Allowance of £268,275, whichever is smaller. (1) grows with your pension and (2) is a flat national cap that does not.
The cash is tax free, but the pension you keep is taxed as income every year you draw it.
Sources and method
What we assume
Previous service. Enter the figure from your Annual Benefit Statement and we show that number unchanged, in either view. We back-calculate an average pensionable pay to illustrate the years up to that date only, and project forwards from the pay you enter.
The scheme year. Every figure here sits on a year end. The age fields move a whole scheme year at a time, the chart has one point for each, and nothing on it falls between two.
Revaluation. Your pension is revalued once a year, just after the scheme year ends, which is why a statement dated 31 March does not yet include that April's increase. In today's money it grows 1.5% a year for as long as you keep paying in, and stays level once you have stopped. That is the scheme's own increase with inflation taken out of it.
Inflation. Figures are shown in today's money: the calculation ignores inflation, and the amounts are what your pension would be worth in today's pounds. Cash terms shows the same figures with inflation added, at one fixed rate applied to every year, backwards and forwards. Inflation between now and your retirement is not known, so that rate is an estimate. The real figures are set each year by the Treasury: pension indexation and revaluation.
Retirement. Deferral (exiting the scheme) and retirement dates are fixed to the 31 March year end selected. The year you stop is credited in full. Deferral dates in the past are not supported. Deferred pensions hold their value and stop growing. No revaluation is applied. Only CPI uplift when cash terms is selected. Early and late retirement are priced in whole years from your Normal Pension Age. For exact figures, request an estimate from NHSBSA.
Your pensionable pay. We assume your pensionable pay stays fixed, in today's money, throughout your career. Pay that rises faster than inflation builds a larger pension than shown; pay that falls builds a smaller one. Part-time hours are accommodated in this figure. You pay into the scheme continuously, without a break, until your chosen retirement or deferral date. Change the pay figure to model a different level.
Tax-free cash. The Lump Sum Allowance is frozen in law and is not raised each year. These figures assume it keeps pace with prices anyway, so if the freeze holds, your cap will buy less than they suggest. We also assume you hold no protected allowance. A small number of members registered one under the old lifetime allowance rules and can take a larger tax-free sum than shown.
Where the figures come from
Scheme rules. Accrual 1/54 of pensionable pay a year, and normal pension age equal to State Pension age (minimum 65): NHSBSA 2015 Members' Guide V13, May 2024. In-service revaluation CPI plus 1.5%: NHS 2015 scheme design document, gov.uk.
Tax-free lump sum. The scheme buys £12 of cash for every £1 of yearly pension given up: NHSBSA's maximum lump sum guidance. What may then be taken tax free is capped by statute, at the lower of two limits. (1) 25% of the capital value of your benefits: Finance Act 2004 Schedule 29, paragraphs 2 and 2C, with the factor of 20 set by section 276. (2) The Lump Sum Allowance, £268,275: ITEPA 2003 section 637P.
Scheme dates. The scheme year runs 1 April to 31 March, and an Annual Benefit Statement is drawn to that 31 March. The yearly increase for members still paying in is applied on 6 April, and was 1 April up to 2022: HM Treasury written statement HCWS437. The Revaluation Order itself still lists 1 April, so this is the record of the date your pension moves on.
Early and late retirement factors. GAD "NHSPS_EW: Consolidated Factor Spreadsheet", issued 30 June 2023. Early retirement: table 0-420 (ERF1), sheet x-420, page 25. Late retirement: table 0-421 (LRF1), sheet x-421, page 26. Method: GAD NHSPS 2015 E&W: Early and late retirement in normal health, 7 Aug 2019; rounding (§2.3 early, §3.4 late) and order of operations (§1.18).
Pay and contribution rates. Agenda for Change pay scales 2026/27 (NHS Employers), doctors' and dentists' scales 2026/27, and NHS pension contribution tiers 2026/27 (NHSBSA for England and Wales, SPPA for Scotland, HSC for Northern Ireland). Employer contribution 23.7% plus a 0.08% administration levy for England and Wales, effective from 2024/25; Scotland and Northern Ireland set their own rates, shown in the tool for your region.
| Age | Pension a year | Phase |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | £723 | built up |
| 35 | £4,504 | built up |
| 40 | £8,577 | projected |
| 45 | £12,965 | projected |
| 50 | £17,693 | projected |
| 55 | £22,785 | projected |
| 60 | £28,271 | projected |
| 65 | £34,181 | projected |
| 68 | £37,945 | projected |
| 70 | £37,945 | in payment |
| 73 | £37,945 | in payment |
The three NHS pension schemes
The NHS has run three schemes: the 1995 and 2008 sections of the old final-salary scheme, and the 2015 career-average scheme. Since April 2022 every active member builds 2015 benefits, whatever they were in before.
Which scheme holds your earlier service matters for when you can retire and how your pension is worked out. We cover the differences in the NHS pension schemes explained, and the McCloud remedy for service between 2015 and 2022. This calculator models the 2015 scheme. If you also have 1995 or 2008 service, the free wealth report will cover all three, and NHSBSA can give you an official estimate across every section.
What changes your pension
In the 2015 scheme you build a slice of pension each year, based on that year's pay, and the total is revalued to keep pace over your career. Three things move the final figure most: the years you pay in, your pensionable pay, and the age you retire.
Retiring before your normal pension age reduces the annual amount, because it is paid for longer. You can also exchange some pension for a larger tax-free lump sum (commutation). The calculator lets you try out these different options to show you the impact on your pension.